#the nobility

grand house harasaeon:

crest: a golden sun. like SPECIFIALLY golden so not an orangey/yellowy kind of sun but a solid gold sun (literally in a lot of cases; where possible the harasaeon's crest will be illustrated with actual gold e.g in swords or armour). it's quite geometric so could almost look like a star as the 'sunbeams' are all very triangular. the sun is to symbolise that they are the 'guiding light' within burnos.

coat of arms: burnosian coats of arms are always diamond-shaped, each having individual designs and borders. the harasaeons' coat of arms show the tree of life that they all have engraved on the backs of their necks. the detail of it depends on how fancy the coat of arms is, but typically it'll be a very simplistic dark outline of the tree of life (two trees reflected, no foliage) and the sun is always at the centre where the roots meet to create trunks. the trees' branches grow to fit the diamond and wrap around the edges to create a border. the harasaeons' coat of arms is the only one in burnos that doesn't mention another house and that's to show that they truly are top dog like they're the TOP of the pyramid the only thing after them are the gods themselves

geography: southern house. ancestoral home is the palace of kusig

high house abalaoi:

crest: the symbol of the abalaois is the head of a black morriga dragon with amber eyes and a forked tongue sticking out. it's a nod to both their ancient dragonhunters that brought power to erialia to begin with and also the sacred dragons that gave them so much protection. it's quite bittersweet now for obvious reasons and the crest has become a bit of a sore point, but many speculated at first that dea being given to drako was favourable for the abalaois, because he 'carries their crest'. samas and cyra abalaoi get really cocky about it but really if we are going to make it a foreshadowing thing then dea being given to drako is the gods giving a little nudge to the fact that this will be the generation that brings the morrigas back to burnos (and through firinne too! go boy get your culture back <3). the morriga dragon is a symbol of strength and bravery, something the eriash back in the days of dragonhunting were renowned for

coat of arms: their morriga dragon head takes up about 2/3s of the diamond, and then they have a sunrise behind it for the top half of the shield to symbolise their alliance to the harasaeons. there aren't many actual food crops that can be grown in the west bc of its climate, but there's a lot of orange trees to the point oranges are mainly traded from the west and it's known western oranges are the best. for the eriash it's sort of its own symbol of endurance. the borders of the abalaoi coat of arms are wrapped with branches with oranges growing from them as a result. generally, the palette for their coat of arms is very metallic, with coppers and golds, like the sands of the westlands.

geography: western house. fealty sworn to house harasaeon. ancestoral home is lochfall

high house vanushzu:

crest: the cypress stag. this is a stag native to burnos (and specifically the rowanisles). the description given in tbos is: 'Stood off the path, hooves splashing through the water as the creature came to a stop, was a pure white stag, the colour almost blinding in the green-brown swampland, not a speck of mud on its coat even as it stood in the water. Its antlers curled towards the trees, the colour of gold, wrapped in vines and blossoms.' the cypress stag is a symbol of hope and growth, though some people also consider it a symbol of magic and the fact it's the vanushzu's crest when people already side-eye the rowana for being the 'magicker crowd' is just kinda funny to me. like the abalaois, the vanushzu's crest show the head of the animal, so the head of a very impressive cypress stag with vines wrapped around its huge antlers and flowers dripping down.

coat of arms: the cypress stag is actually front and centre of the diamond with its antlers sort of growing into a /\ shape to fit the diamond, but in the long, white hair of its neck is the sun symbol to represent their loyalty to the harasaeons. you might have noticed that the harasaeons are the only ones the high houses reference in their coat of arms and that's because the harasaeons are the only ones in the kingdom that outrank the high houses. symbols on coats of arms are done in a single direction, if that makes sense. so house fidari has sworn fealty to house abalaoi, and while that means they're ALLIED, it doesn't mean that house abalaoi (the higher ranking house) have sworn fealty to house fidari, hence why the fidari coat of arms references the abalaois but the abalaoi coat of arms doesn't reference the fidaris, does that make sense? anyway the palette for the vanushzu's coat of arms is VERY green, like bog greens if that makes sense, and the only other colours are for the flowers which are all pastel and of course the white/grey of the stag.

geography: eastern house. fealty sworn to house harasaeon. ancestoral home is the green castle

high house skelforne:

crest: a bear <3 like im talking a massive fuck off brown-haired grizzly. this symbolises strength, adaptability and perserverance while also being a really renowned animal of the north because its fur is perfectly suited for the cold weather. the skelfornes have a lot of love for bears because of this and made hunting them illegal (the day before the skelfornes fled silverhall for a couple decades during the war, the wisers actually killed a bear and left its body on the doorstep. it was certainly one way to send a message and they got the fuck out of there VERY quick after that)

coat of arms: the skelfornes' coat of arms is actually the only one to have their entire animal in it, not just the head. they have a bear shown from the side on its hind legs, striking out with its front paws, teeth bared. it's very aggressive and a lot of the other nobles stick their nose up at it, generally viewing the northerners as a more savage lot, but again the skelfornes genuinely just really like it. the harasaeons' sun actually takes the form of the bear's eye. the palette for the skelfornes' coat of arms is very silver. they don't really have any border designs aside thick silver stripes and the only colour comes from the brown of the bear.

geography: northern house. fealty sworn to house harasaeon. ancestoral home is silverhall

house goldester:

crest: a peacock feather. it's very colourful, all purple and blue and green, and represents confidence, wealth and grace. you might notice that most houses have an animal or reference an animal as their crest and that's a nod towards the aineanums, because that's how sacred they are, but it's not a requirement.

coat of arms: their diamond is bordered with a dragon tail wrapping around it, because house goldester have sworn fealty to house abalaoi, and the centre has two very very grandiose peacock feathers coming from the bottom tip and sort of holding up the sun symbol, which is kind of presumptious of the goldesters but like. it's the goldesters what were we expecting. from the top tip of their diamond is a bunch of sage sort of growing towards/into the feathers to symbolise intelligence/wisdom. their palette is very plum coloured.

geography: middle-lands house. fealty sworn to house abalaoi and house harasaeon. ancestoral home is bersia, on the western border

house fidari:

crest: a golden broadsword that is always ALWAYS pointing upwards. if anything with their crest on it shows the sword pointing downwards it's seen as either a massive threat or a massively bad omen or both

coat of arms: they have the same border as the goldesters with the dragon tail as they have also sworn fealty to the abalaois. their coat of arms is actually very simple because it's literally just that as well as the sword front and centre with the sun emblazoned at the base (a darker gold than the rest of the sword to imply it's more expensive). their palette is very solid, but metallic like the abalaois.

geography: western house. fealty sworn to house abalaoi and house harasaeon. ancestoral home is harmer hall, on the coast

house gavne:

crest: a hammer to reference their skill with blacksmithing while also nodding to their humble beginnings. it symbolises character and a strong will

coat of arms: two hammers crossed over each other. in the top \/ of the hammers sits the sun, in the bottom /\ sits a very simplistic bear's paw to show that they've sworn fealty to the skelfornes. their palette is very dark, everything being black aside the gold of the harasaeons' crest

geography: northern house. fealty sworn to house skelforne and house harasaeon. ancestoral home used to be up north in birad but when the gathering of wisers fell, house gavne quite brutally exiled all wisers in their family and moved east to river manor. they are still a northern house with fealty sworn to the skelfornes not the vanushzus, but they still have loyalty to the east and they remain at river manor even after the war, so if the vanushzus put out a call it's likely house gavne would answer it, so their loyalty is actually a bit of a toss up and in tbos they side with the vanushzus long before the skelfornes make a decision. fun fact: because the skelfornes fled the north not long after house gavne during the war, there was a period in burnos where there were NO noble families at all in the north. birad is now abandoned since elf's pass emerged during the elven uprising

house zagin:

crest: an amethyst gemstone cut into a diamond shape. amethyst is actually a very expensive gemstone in burnos; it's the burnosian equivalent of a diamond for us. this is because it's believed to be able to ward off evil and cancel out bad omens, and like ive said, burnosians are SUPER fucking superstitious. house zagin's crest therefore symbolises security and peace, but it's also a nod to the wealth they gained back in their mining/merchant days

coat of arms: a geode of amethyst growing from the bottom half of the diamond and a sun in the top half. their border is interesting because it's all... claws? like their coat of arms almost looks like it's being held in some monster's teeth but it's actually just bear claws encroaching on the design to show they've sworn fealty to house skelforne. their palette is very soft, mostly pastel with the lilac of the amethyst and quite a soft gold for the harasaeons' sun, so the claws look a little opposing to that but it works.